


Photographic Evidence

by MaxKowarth



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Espionage, F/F, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Hidden History, Implied Relationships, Past Relationship(s), tea solves everything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:22:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21549823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaxKowarth/pseuds/MaxKowarth
Summary: Old Truths come to light in Sir Alistair's personal affects
Relationships: Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart/Sarah Jane Smith, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart/Sarah Jane Smith
Kudos: 8





	Photographic Evidence

Sarah Jane Smith flinched at the sound of her front door slamming shut. She paused in the washing up, turning towards the hall to call out.  
‘Cylde, What have I told you about....’ she tailed off. Her visitor wasn’t Clyde Langer.

Kate Stewart thumped a heavy manila folder to the kitchen table ‘How could you!’ she burst out. Sarah Jane had a brief moment to consider the facts before her reply. The folder was emblazoned with the disc of the UNIT logo and The Brigadier’s handwriting. It was faded at one end so had been kept in view of the sun rather than in a filing cabinet. The impact had dislodged the contents slightly, revealing photographs inside. Familiar wallpaper in the thick greyscale of Kodak’s finest.

‘Kate....’ Sarah started, realising she was dripping onto the floor and grabbed the towel hung on the cupboard door.  
‘That’s my father’ an unpolished nail stabbed at the folder.  
‘Sit down’  
‘How....’

‘Please Kate, sit down. Take a breath, maybe two? ‘Her words made less impact than the appeal in her eyes. The blonde unknotted her scarf, using it as an excuse to calm herself down. By the time the scarf was on the table and she had taken a seat Sarah had switched on the kettle and leant back against the sink with an uncertain smile.  
‘Sir Alistair... your father and I were good friends.’  
‘I know that. I can SEE that! That’s not the question’ Kate clenched her jaw, trying her hardest not to snap.  
‘He needed someone that....’Sarah stopped and pushed a hand through her hair. ‘That’s not the answer you’re looking for either. You want to know how “I” could. I must have known that he’d be under observation, and I was a journalist, a security issue. ’  
‘The Russians. And they were watching you, not him’ Kate finally looked away, the practical nature of the reply restoring her businesslike facade. Sarah Jane snorted although the sound was drowned out by the kettle. She made a pot of tea and carried it to the table, making certain to sit as close to Kate as she could.

‘They were only watching me because I’d asked questions about one of their rocket bases. I was writing my book about UNIT, and had researched the International Electromatics affair. Your father fired on a Cyber Fleet using Russian missiles.’  
‘And this? You can’t call that research.’ Kate placed a hand on the table between them, a tacit truce. Sarah placed her own hand comfortingly upon it.  
‘That was old friends comforting one another. It was before I even knew you existed.’ Sarah smiled warmly, Kate did not return it. Instead she removed her hand and opened the file; A colour photo, bright Kodachrome of aged wood via a fish eye lens. The Brigadier’s quarters at Brendon school. The confusing site of his clean shaven face. The book had already been published and remaindered by then.  
‘You knew about me then. That’s my photo next to your head’ Sarah Jane picked up the image, a fond remembrance passing over her features.  
‘He’d vanished after 1977. And then 1983 I got this call. He’d been suffering and wanted help finding his way in the world again. This can’t be the Russians.’ She realised.

‘MI5. He was an asset and was now in the public eye.’  
‘They spied on the Brig? He wouldn’t like that’ she sucked her teeth disapprovingly and Kate broke into laughter. Sarah put the picture down and poured the tea. ‘How could I? Easily, your father was a handsome, charismatic man.’ She handed over the mug. ‘You’re a lot like him’  
Kate took the mug with only the hint of a blush. They drank in silence for a moment.  
‘Looking back, perhaps I was just finding excuses to listen out for the Doctor. But I didn’t think of that at the time. I was there for him, just as I’m here for you.’ Kate didn’t reply, didn’t even look up. Sarah tried to think of something else to say. ‘Where did you find this?’ She reached across and dragged more images toward her. All of them featured Sir Alistair, although not all of them featured her. She turned one around a few times before she worked out what she was seeing.

‘In his things. I’ve been so busy I’m only now getting around to cataloguing them.’ She put the mug down and reached for a photo at the back of the file. She handed it over and Sarah clicked her tongue.  
‘This was the day I told him I’d found Doris for him.’ Sarah smiled at the memory. His face as the petite blonde entered the coffee shop. She had left, discreetly, but he had sought her out after.  
‘After New World’ Kate nodded. There was a trace of bitterness there but not enough to pin resentment on. Sarah tidied the photos away, trying not to think about some of them. Kate finished her tea. There was still something unspoken between them. Had their relationship changed? Were the pictures toxic to Sir Alistair’s memory?

‘Your father had these you say? He could have destroyed them.’ Sarah frowned. Her journalistic drive had taken over. Kate lowered her head.  
‘That... they... they were in his bedside cabinet. Fond memories perhaps.’ Both women blushed ahead of an awkward silence. Sarah Jane had finally reached the point of being able to say something when the door banged open again. Sky squealed to a halt, Clyde seconds behind her. 

‘Hi mum, hello Miss Stewart. It’s not Wednesday’ Sky frowned.  
‘Must be something special going on!’ Clyde beamed.  
‘Yes, tea. And I was thinking of calling the military to replace my front door!’ Sarah snapped at him. ‘You better have a good reason for charging in here like the Judoon express....’

And he did. But that’s a story for another time.


End file.
